President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed lax immigration prosecution measures put in place by former President Obama.
Under Operation Streamline, a fast-track prosecution program for illegal alien border-crossers will seek criminal prosecution for first-time border-crossers.
During the Obama years, only repeat border-crossers were prosecuted as criminals under Operation Streamline.
Now, the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice seek to deter first-time illegal crossers.
Previously, first-time border-crossers were deported to their native countries. Under Trump, those illegal aliens are being prosecuted, alongside repeat offenders, as Tuscon.com notes:
At a Streamline hearing on Tuesday, a dozen lawyers flitted among the 48 men and five women accused of crossing the border illegally. Hours earlier, the defendants had pleaded guilty to illegal entry. They faced a maximum sentence of six months and a $5,000 fine.
More than half of the defendants on Tuesday were first-time offenders who were caught by the Border Patrol several days before. On Wednesday, 24 illegal border crossers who were caught for the first time and 14 who were caught multiple times were sentenced.
For the first-time border-crossers, they are being convicted with misdemeanors. If they illegally re-enter, they will be hit with felony charges.
Trump and Sessions’ return to using Operation Streamline to deter all illegal aliens from entering the U.S. is a break from the policies of Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder.
As Breitbart News reported at the time, Holder halted prosecutions of illegal aliens pursuant to Operation Streamline at the Yuma, Arizona sector of the U.S.-Mexico border.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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